Mafia arrests nab more than 120 in the Northeast

Mafia arrests: More than 100 of the defendants were arrested Thursday as some 800 federal agents and police officers made busts in several states. One person was arrested in Italy.

ByTom Hays, Associated PressJanuary 20, 2011

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrest more than 100 organized crime suspects in New York, in this still image taken from WNBC-TV video footage from early Jan. 20. "Early this morning FBI agents along with our law enforcement partners began arresting over 100 organized crime members for various criminal charges," Diego Rodriguez, the FBI's special agent in charge in New York, said in a brief statement.

NEW YORK — More than 120 organized crime associates face charges including murder, extortion and narcotics trafficking in one of the largest Mafia crackdowns in FBI history, prosecutors announced Thursday.

The charges cover decades worth of offenses, he said, including "classic mob hits to eliminate perceived rivals," a killing during a botched robbery and a double shooting in a barroom dispute over a spilled drink.

Other charges include alleged corruption among dockworkers who were forced to kick back a portion of their holiday bonuses to the crime families.

Holder called the arrests "an important step forward in our nation's fight against organized crime."

The crimes include two murders dating back 30 years, and another as recently as 2002. One of the defendants, among the scores arrested, is a former New York City police officer.

Authorities say the investigation was aided by informants who recorded thousands of conversations by suspected mobsters.

Luigi Manocchio, the reputed former head of New England's Patriarca crime family, was arrested Wednesday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, the U.S. attorney's office in Providence said. An indictment accused him of collecting protection payments from strip club-owners. Also arrested was Thomas Iafrate, who worked as a bookkeeper for strip clubs and set aside money for Manocchio, prosecutors said.

The takedown was the result of multiple investigations. Federal probes aided by mob turncoats have decimated the families' ranks in recent years and have resulted in lengthy prison terms for several leaders.

In October, Mafia turncoat Salvatore Vitale was sentenced to time served after federal prosecutors praised his total betrayal of his own crime syndicate — and after he apologized to the families of his victims. Authorities said he had a hand in at least 11 murders, including that of a fellow gangster in the fallout from the infamous Donnie Brasco case.